Water-intake valve and safety device for hot-water heating systems.



. G. O. ANDREWS.

WATER INTAKE VALVE AND SAFETY DEVICE FOR HOT WATER HEATING SYSTEMS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 13, 1908.

Patented Jan. 19, 1909.

////////V/ Aw/// Ail 32 M iii 7%! mzw M llfiinwaw. CW MM. k4 3 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGEG. ANDREWS,-.OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

WATER-INTAKE" VALVE! AND SAFETY DEVICE FOR HOT WATER" HEATING SYSTEMS.

Specification of Letters Patent Patented- Jan 19; 1909.

Application filed-March "13, 1908;" Serial N'dr 420,866."

To all mam 'it may concern:

Be it known "thatI, GEORGE G.' ANDREWS, a citizen" of the- United States, residing at Minneapolis, in thevco-unty of "Hennepin and State'of Minnesota, have invented certain new andiuseful Improvements in WVater- Intake Valves and' Safe-ty Devices for Hot- Water Heatin f Systems, and I" do hereby declare the fol owingto be a full,v clear, and

exacti. description of" the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertainsto make and use the same;

My invention has for-it's object to provide an? improved; safety valve mechanism esp ecially adaptedfor "use in connection with *hot water-andsteam heating systems and to the: above "ends the lnventlon consists of the novel.

devices and -combinations"offdevices hereinafter'describ'edandi'defined 1n the claims;

The invention: is illustrated in the "accom- I pany ng drawings, WhBl'BlIl'. like characters indicatelike parts throughout the several views.

Referring. to thedrawings, Figure lis a:

trated in Fig. 1, the numeral linclicates the mainl'b'ody portion ofxfthevalve mechanism, the same, as shown, being integrally connected, by a neck portion 2, to alaterally offset supplemental casing 3. mechanism will usuallybe placed inthe water supply tank of a hot water heating system; and the lower end of the casing 1 is adapted to be screwed onto the upper end of a water pipe or stack 4. The extreme upper end of the casing l is shown as closed by a threaded plug 5 below which are lateral escape passages 6. Just below the escape passages 6 the casing 1 is provided with an internal annular valve seat 7 upon which normally rests a safety valve 8, the stem 9 of which works upward through the plug 5 and is secured, at its upper end, to a weight 10. This weight 10 should be such that the valve 8 will be held in a closed position or seated against the valve seat 7 under all normal pressures which it is desired to maintain within the circulating connections of the heating system, but should be such that under abnormal pressures, such as might produce undue ta-lly'occurthereto. T

This valve strains on the pipes or radiators or. the

-boiler, said valve will be: forced iopjen', there- -by permitting; an escapev of steam through the passageso. This valve, therefore, works automati'callytto prevent excessive pressures within the heatin safetydevi'ce'would forthe fact that' there is a slight p'ossibility 'that said valve maysometime become stuck by corrosion or by an accumulation:ofsedi- :ment and. thereby rendered 1 inoperative as a safety device.

'system and no" other be required were 1t not I have, therefore, provided an auxiliary sa fe'ty dvi'c'e which can inn'o wise be: rendered inoperative by corrosion or by any other: thin *that'could"accidenhis supplemental safety device is inth'e nature-of a disk, plate'or sheet of imperforate'"material L which, under all-normal pressures'inthe system, will remain intact 'andkeep' closed theblow off or escape passage, but" which, under predetermined abnormal or excessive pressure, will .break'or -give way and thereby open: up said escape passage and' permit" the steam from the' s stem to escape. In the construction il ustrated in Fig; 1, this safety disk or plate 11] isclamped witha steamtight joint in' the upper end'ofthesupplementalcasing 3 by means of a capnutor cage 12Wvhicli, as'shown, has'a multiplicity of discharge-passages .13. This safety plate 11 maybe con'structed of thinmetal, ofvuljcanized' rubber or anyother suitable material which will not' rapidlydeteriorate under the action; ofwater andsteam' an'd'which will have the" required strength" to resist' normal pressures fromthesyst'em; W'hen used'in connection with the weighted or supplemental safety valve it should have such strength that it will remain intact and resist pressures which will open the said primary safety valve. Such an arrangement will give the safety valve a chance to open up to perform all of the work of preventing excessive or dangerous pressures in the system; and the said safety valve will perform these functions unless, as may possibly happen in some rare instances, it becomes stuck by corrosion or locked by sediment, in which case the said safety plate will, under slightly greater internal pressure of the system, give way and thus prevent accidents due to explosions. This, as is evident, is a very desirable arrangement because the safety valve 8 will become again closed and keep the system in good running condition following each time that it happens to open to r'elieve pressure; whereas when the safety plate 11 is blown out it will be necessary to replace.

the'same before the system will be again put under normal runnmg condition.

In connectlon with'valve mechanism of this character, an automatic water intakevalve is provided; and this valve is preferably in the form of a gravity seated ball 14 that nor- :mally closes an intake port 15 formed in the bottom of the supplemental case 3. In practice the entire valve mechanism shown will be submerged in the water supply tank and,

'if desired, there may beprovide'd a float 16 having a stem 17 arranged to bear against the lower portion of said ball valve 14. This ste'm'l'? may be guided for: vertical move ments m'any suitable way, as, for lnstance,

by a spider bracket 18 secured to the bottom ofthe supplemental case 3. This float 16 should have such buoyancy that it will assist in unseating the valve 14, but will not in itself raise the said valve from its seated position. The purpose o f'this float would be to assist in opening the valve 14 when the pressure within the system, due to condensation of steam or contraction of the hot water,

is less than atmospheric pressure, so as to thereby cause the intake valve to open up and" permit inflow of water to replenish or keep up the water supply in the system.

In the construction illustrated in Fig.2,

the upper end of the supplemental casing 3 is permanently closed by a removable plug 19 and the ball valve which normally closes the water inlet port 15 is made in two parts, connected by screw-threaded engagement and clamping between its sections a safety disk or plate 11. Also the sections 20 of this twopart ball valve are formed with axial passages 20 and the upper ball section is provided with upwardly projecting fingers 2O that are adapted to engage the interiorof the casing 3 and thereby prevent the ball valve from turning into aposition in which thelower passage 2O will be. out of registration with the port 15.

With the ball valveshown inFig. 2, the pocket formed by the lower passage 20 will never be entirely filled with water but will contain more or less air which serves'as a float to partly sustain the weight of said inlet valve.

As already indicated, in both ofthe con; structions described, the so-called safety plate or disk, when it is blown out or broken by excessive pressure, will permit the escape of steam from the heating system and thus absolutely protect the system from. the'disastrous effect of very high pressure; 7 V V The safety plate 11 might," in some instances, be formed integral with the cap 12;

and, in other instances, it mightbe applied to. the safety valve 8.

What I claim is: V 1 r p -1. In a valve mechanism of the kind described, the combination with a casing, of a normally closed water inlet valve adapted to i be opened by external pressure in excess of the internal pressure, of a safety plate adapted to be blown out by excessive pressure from within said casing, substantially as described.

2. In a valve mechanism of the kind de- GEORGE O. ANDREWS. Witnesses MALIE HOEL, H. D. KlLeonnq 

